International Tracing Service (International Committee of the Red Cross , 1993, 51 p.)

(introduction...)

Preface

How it all began....

The expansion of the Third Reich

The period from 1943 to 1955

The new beginning

The legal basis of the ITS

The Transition Agreement

The International Commission for the International Tracing Service (IC/ITS) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

The tasks of the International Tracing Service

Figures, data, facts

Assembling

Classification

Preservation

Evaluation

Example for evaluation: Issuing of a report

Example for evaluation: Issuing of an Excerpt from Documents

Example for evaluation: Tracing case

National and international cooperation

Current official and institutional inquirers

The Transition Agreement

After the unification of Germany, the
Deutschland-Vertrag was cancelled through a final settlement called
the Transition Agreement.

The obligation of the Federal Government to provide for the
continued existence of the ITS was thus called in question. This, nota bene, at
a time when the ITS registered the largest number of incoming inquiries for
years.

In a Note of September 1990, the Undersecretary of State of the
Foreign Office in Bonn confirmed for the Ambassadors of France, of the United
States and of Great Britain that Chapter 7, Article 1 of the Convention on the
Settlement of Matters Arising out of the War and the Occupation is still
completely valid:

Displaced persons and refugees

The Federal Republic of Germany assumes the obligation:

(d) to guarantee the continuation of the work that
is presently being carried out by the International Tracing
Service.

Thus, the continued existence of the ITS in a form that has not
been changed since 1955 is
ensured.